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Children upset by “bloody crime scene” at school

Pupils shocked by scene that turned out to be a lesson on problem solving

Children were left upset when they arrived at school to find a pool of blood, police tapes and an injured teacher, reports the Daily Mail.

The pupils, aged between 5 and 10, came across the scene at Foxtrot Primary School in Sheffield, and were asked to help catch the culprit of the crime by looking at the evidence.

Many of the 300 pupils believed that they had helped crime investigators until they received an explanatory letter at the end of the week, which said the crime had been staged as part of a problem-solving exercise.

Head teacher Nicola Shipman said parents weren’t let in on the secret because they wanted to keep the exercise as realistic as possible, but some said their children had been left frightened. Mum Emma Whitehead said it was totally irresponsible. “'I have spoken to a number of parents and they are disgusted. A lot of children were frightened by the blood and the story they were told. I can’t see what the kids have learned from this, as they are too young to really understand what was going on.”

But Nicola said, “Essentially we asked them to become a mini-Sherlock Holmes. The problem-solving week was held to cover key skills in the school curriculum and we wanted to give the pupils a topic that would inspire their creativity.”

What do you think of the crime scene exercise? An inspired way to help kids learn or a step too far? Let us know below….

I think the actual idea of creating a crime scene in order to help children learn isn't such a bad one, but I think they should have been told about it first. If they came to school knowing that it was all set up, the parents and the children would obviously have been much less anxious. Having said that, I do think the fact that children as young as 5 were involved in this activity was a step too far, as they're too young to really understand what's going on.